Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy speaks during a public meeting regarding the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act Thursday in July 2011.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg weighed in on a contentious political race across the Hudson River Thursday and endorsed the incumbent mayor of Jersey City for re-election.

“America needs mayors like Jerramiah Healy and he has earned another four years to keep the progress going in Jersey City,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

Healy was one of the original 17 members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition started by Bloomberg and the mayor of Boston in 2006. The two have appeared together at events against illegal gun trafficking since, and Bloomberg held a fundraiser at his home for Healy’s last race in 2009.

Bloomberg also praised Healy as a “thoughtful leader” on economic development and the environment in his endorsement.

“Mayor Bloomberg’s internationally recognized leadership of New York City has helped advance our metropolitan area and I am proud to have his endorsement,” Healy said.

In another connection, Bloomberg’s late mother, Charlotte, was born in Jersey City and graduated from high school there in 1925.

Jersey City’s non-partisan mayoral race has become one of the marquee political contests in New Jersey this year. Healy’s main challenger, city Councilman Steven Fulop, has mounted a serious contest in the race, in part, by courting residents in the city’s rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods.